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When you take out a car loan through a dealer or a car finance broker, your car loan isn't funded and administered by the broker or dealer, it's managed by the lender for your car loan.

This means that to check your car loan balance, you'll need to contact the financial institution that funded your loan.

When might you need to check your car loan balance?

You will need to know your car loan balance when:

You plan to sell a car that is under finance

You are considering car loan refinance to get a better deal

You plan to upgrade your car with a new car loan

You want to pay out the loan to be debt free.

Depending on the type of car loan you have taken out, there may be fees attached to paying out the loan before the end of the loan term, and you'll need to factor these in when you calculate the total payout fee. You can find all of this information on your original car loan documentation.

How to check your car loan balance

1. Who is your car loan financed by?

Your car loan lender can be found on the loan documents that you signed when setting up the loan.

If you arranged your car loan with a Positive car loan broker, these would have been emailed to you, so you can check your email account to find the loan documents, or contact Positive Lending Solutions to request the information.

If your car loan was arranged with a car dealer or another source, you'll need to check your communication with them to find out who your lender is. If you are paying the loan with direct debit, your bank statements might say the lender's name against the debit.

2. Do you have internet banking for your car loan?

Most lenders have online accounts. You may need to register for an online account using your loan information before you can access your loan history.

To do this you will usually need your loan account number, personal contact information, and a password you will use for the account. Make sure that your password is unique, and something that can't easily be guessed by a someone else.

Some lenders will also allow you to check your loan balance at an ATM. Check your loan documentation to find out if your lender offers this facility.

3. Logging in to your car loan account

Once you have set up internet banking for your car loan account, you will need to log in using your account number and password.

With internet banking you can:

Check your current loan balance and recent transactions

Check your interest rate

Make repayments

Find your minimum repayment amount

Check your payment frequency

See when your next payment is due

Need to change your repayment schedule?

If you need to change your loan payment or direct debit schedule, you'll need to contact your lender by phone.

For example, if the day that you get paid has changed, you might change your loan payments to be due on the same day to make sure you make each payment on time.

I have my current loan balance, now what?

Now you know what your current loan balance is, you can use it to refinance or pay out your car loan, make extra payments to pay out the loan by a certain date, or just be confident that you know exactly how much you still owe on your car.

If you need to sell your car, you'll know if the car's value is higher than the loan balance, or if you will need to contribute a sum to pay out the loan once you make the sale.

Tom Caesar is the Managing Director of The Positive Group, a group of Australian financial services companies offering a broad range of finance to clients Australia wide. The Positive Group assist clients in the areas of car finance, mortgages, insurance & wealth management. Tom has been in car & asset finance for over 10 years. Tom regularly contributes articles on car finance, insurance, technology and business growth, drawing on his experience of starting his own brokerage in 2009.